


cynosure

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Crushes, Extra Treat, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-30 17:37:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8542564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: Lando was about the only one who didn’t look at Luke any differently. Which was a blessing and a curse both in Luke’s opinion. It was nice to have one person treat him normally, but Luke couldn’t lie: if Lando was the one for whom Luke’s presence sparked such an affectionate blaze of heat, rather than one of his dozen or so admirers here, well, Luke wouldn’t hesitate for a moment in saying yes and thank the Force and it’s about time and why now, what’s going on, please explain this to me.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/gifts).



Luke may not have been experienced in the romance department and maybe didn’t understand love and relationships with as much confidence as others did, but he wasn’t completely clueless and he was a Jedi and when he saw someone blush when he said hello to them, he knew what it meant.

He just didn’t know why or how or when or—did he mention _why_?

Because this—Lieutenant Dhaisse’s work, in this case—wasn’t the first time it had happened, that flush of color, that mental twinge of pleasure at merely _seeing_ Luke approach. And it had never, ever happened the last time he was on _Home One_. He would know. He was a Jedi. Jedi _knew_ things. And he remembered. No one much cared about Luke Skywalker before the destruction of the second Death Star. Not like _this_.

Frankly, it was disconcerting. But nobody seemed to want anything more from him than a few moments of his time and a kind word or two, so he didn’t prod at it too closely. The Force had a way of giving you answers you really, really didn’t want when you pried at things like that. And anyway, he was nursing his own crush—and it was a crush, Jedi didn’t lie to themselves, silly though the concept might have seemed, a crush and something more, something nebulous, something exquisitely painful—and having to let someone else down in theirs? Luke didn’t relish that thought in the slightest.

So he shook the latest encounter off as best he could and went off in search of Lando, who also happened to be onboard at the moment. A lucky break for Luke, as far as such things went. He hadn’t seen Lando in weeks and was beginning to miss the man though they often crossed paths back at the New Republic’s main base of operations. One or the other of them was always coming back or leaving for this, that, or the other cleanup mission, but mostly found themselves in the other’s vicinity long enough for a meal or a drink or a few hands of sabacc. Mostly, except for this latest stretch of time when they’d had no time to spare for one another.

Lando was about the only one who didn’t look at Luke any differently. Which was a blessing and a curse both in Luke’s opinion. It was nice to have one person treat him normally, but Luke couldn’t lie: if Lando was the one for whom Luke’s presence sparked such an affectionate blaze of heat, rather than one of his dozen or so admirers here, well, Luke wouldn’t hesitate for a moment in saying _yes_ and _thank the Force_ and _it’s about time_ and _why now, what’s going on, please explain this to me_.

Or… he’d maybe leave out that last series of questions. They would probably just make Lando laugh in his face if he asked them and that wasn’t the impression he wanted to give this hypothetical Lando who returned his feelings.

 _You should let it go_ , he thought. _It’s never gonna happen anyway._

Shaking his head, rueful, Luke trailed through the hallways, fingers skimming the walls in parts of the ship where there was no one to encounter. Lando liked the out of the way spots of _Home One_ and Luke knew his favorite out of all of them and Luke _also_ knew he wasn’t wrong to head in its direction. Like a comforting hum, the feel of Lando in the Force could be picked out easily from all the background noise.

“Lando,” he said, stepping into the small alcove the man had chosen as his even before the run on the second Death Star. Lando’s back was to him and Luke had walked quietly, but he didn’t startle at the sound of Luke’s voice.

He never startled at Luke’s presence.

“Luke,” he answers, shifting over on the bench he’d commandeered from one of the auxiliary mess halls and welded into this spot himself—with a little help from R2. Luke still wasn’t sure if Ackbar knew or not. But if he didn’t, Luke wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. Besides, it was a nice spot for a bench. Had the best little transparisteel viewport you could find off the bridge. Saw all sorts of stars here, a nebula sometimes, whole systems hanging in the black. “Heard you were back.”

Luke took the offered seat, smoothed his hands down his tunic and over his thighs. “Heard the same about you.”

“Every time you think you’re done, something drags you back.” Lando peered at him, sidelong, a twinkle in his eye. “An old Calrissian proverb.”

“Is it now?” Luke asked, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling too widely. “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t mind.”

“No?” Unlike Luke, Lando didn’t hide his smile. He hid nothing at all. And Luke wished he could be that open. He might have been, once. But he’d seen too much, lost too much, to not show caution when he could. “That certainly eases _my_ mind.”

“Ha ha,” Luke said, arching an eyebrow and darting a look at Lando. _Keep your cool._

“I’m serious!” Nudging Luke in the side, Lando lifted his hands pantomiming mouths opening and closing. “The way I hear it, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker has a fan club. He’s so handsome and _mysterious_ in his—”

Luke twists himself on the bench, hitching his leg up, nearly kicking Lando in the side. “—wait a—”

Lando’s smile dialed itself up to a grin. “—black jacket and trousers and—”

“—hold on,” Luke said, barely containing a laugh, raising his hands for a moment’s mercy. Because that? That was _ridiculous_.

“No way,” Lando said, clearly enjoying himself far too much, his cheeks dimpling with glee. “They also said you looked so _serious_ all the time. Didn’t seem like the Luke I knew, but it worked for them. Thought maybe you forgot about me.”

Luke scoffed, his hands forming into fists at his side. Lando was always like this, so exuberant, an irrepressible presence. Made a person feel like they were the only important focus in the room when he turned his attention their way. It could be intoxicating if a person let it and Luke—Luke couldn’t let himself be intoxicated by it. It wasn’t fair to either of them.

So he stilled, sobered, looked away and turned so that he was again sitting correctly, both feet on the floor. Where they belonged. “I wouldn’t do that,” he did admit, because he couldn’t lie about that. And he didn’t want to take the chance of Lando _believing_ it either. Even though Luke was pretty sure he didn’t.

“Well, good,” Lando said, deceptively casual. “Because I was worried I might have missed my chance.”

“Your _chance_?” Luke narrowed his eyes, head whipping around just in time to see Lando lean toward him, place gentle fingers under his chin and pull him forward for a kiss. A dizzyingly thorough kiss, just as gentle as his touch against Luke’s skin, his teeth tugging lightly at Luke’s lower lip. Luke had to close his eyes, relief flooding through him, relief and pure, unadulterated joy, like sunlight—but not the harsh sunlight of Tatooine—more like—

And here Luke lost the thread of his thoughts, messy and convoluted as they were. Because Lando tilted his head to the side, he pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, a punctuation mark of a kiss, quick and pointed. And then he released Luke, left Luke bereft, but when Luke opened his eyes, he saw that Lando seemed pretty dazed, too, smoothing his hand over his mustache, a sheepish smile on his face, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

“I—” _So much for that Jedi composure_. He cleared his throat, coughed delicately into his hand, tugged at the hem of that jacket— _was it really the jacket? Is that why everyone was so… it’s just a_ jacket. “Did you ever consider worrying sooner?”

Lando’s laugh rang through the alcove, brilliant and beloved. “Only about thirty times a day.”

“So… instead of doing that you… didn’t?”

“I didn’t realize anyone else…” He looked away, shrugging, and his hand rubbed at the back of his neck. “It never seemed worth changing things before.”

“And now?”

Lando’s hand sketched an arc back toward the general population centers of the ship. “Now there are people seeing what I always saw.”

“In that case,” Luke answered, trying to keep his own grin somewhere in the incandescent range rather than the eye-blindingly searing, “you want to try worrying again?”

Lando’s answering smile didn’t try for anything less than supernova bright.

Luke wouldn’t have expected anything less.

And as it turned out, Lando could worry a whole hell of a lot.


End file.
